The Georgia State Patrol identified the 4-year-old Auburn boy who was killed Monday night in a truck accident as Xavier Franklin.

Franklin died when he fell off the back of his father's large work truck and the vehicle backed over him in a driveway on Mt. Moriah Road. The driver was 28-year-old Robert Franklin of Mount Moriah Apartments.

Auburn Police Sgt. Diana Campbell said the boy and his 7-year-old brother asked their father to let them to ride on the back of the truck, which has an extended bumper and hand rails.

"From my understanding the father had just gotten off of work, and when he got home, the kids wanted to ride on the truck," said Campbell, the public information officer for the city police department. "I was told the father drove the vehicle up the hill and then let it coast back down the hill."

The truck was in neutral, and the father was in control of the vehicle, Campbell said.

Auburn police officers arrived at the scene within a minute of the 6:52 p.m. dispatch by the Barrow County E-911 Center, and Barrow County Emergency Services requested a medical helicopter. However, the boy was dead when police arrived, and the helicopter was turned back, Campbell said.

The Georgia State Patrol assisted in the investigation at the scene and after consulting with the Barrow County District Attorney's Office decided not to file charges in connection with the accident.

“God, bring comfort and peace. Peace is your essence. Peace is your name. Bring peace to this family who has lost their precious child in death.
We come to you, God because we know that you sorrow, and are acquainted with grief. You too have endured the loss of a child. You empathize.
We can’t help but ask, “Why?” Forgive our insistence, our confusion, even our anger. We believe that you are just, and we ache to understand how this tragic death is an expression of that justice, how it expresses your love. We also know – in our minds at least – that you seldom answer the “why?” question. We press you, but on these matters you are mostly silent.
What we ask instead is “how?” How can we move forward? How can this bring us together and not tear us apart? How can we now live under the shadow of this untimely death? Answer this prayer with your comfort and guidance.
There is no way to remove the pain. The grief is real. The only sanity is to know, to believe, in a life beyond with you, when all the scales are righted and the sufferings are made good. We trust you and your promise that while this child’s life on earth is done, his life beyond has just begun. With that release we lose him and let him go into your arms, then by faith receive in return the boundless comfort of your presence. That is all, that is enough. In Jesus.”

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